Set Apart
by Lavenderangel
Summary: Late summer on a California beach, after freshmen year of high school. Dawn and Kristy sit together. Written for short takes 2008 Dawn round.


Title: Set Apart

Author: Lauren

Rating: PG for alcohol use

Pairing: Dawn/Kristy

Summary: Late summer on a California beach, after freshmen year of high school. Dawn and Kristy sit together.

Author's notes: A million apologies to LJ user="sportyallison7" for this being so late. Anyway! This was written for her. She wanted Dawn/Kristy, summertime, the other babysitters, and precious cargo. Hopefully this is close to what she had in mind. Again, sorry for this being so incredibly late. Also! Kristy came out... interesting. If this is perceived OOC, I really apologize.

LJ-cut text="I want to share this with you"Kristy dropped a paper bag on the sand, sitting down beside it.

She pulled out the bottle of Champaign, dark eyes staring almost defiantly at the side of Dawn's nose from where the blond sat across from her.

"Well," Dawn drawled, an eyebrow raising. "Now I know why you were cradling your bag on the car ride. What's the occasion?"

Kristy shrugged one shoulder. "Nothing special."

"Is that why we're not alerting the others?"

Kristy glanced down the beach, where their friends were scattered. "I don't know. It seems... I want to share this with you"

Dawn felt her lips curve. "I'm not complaining."

They both toyed with the bottle, finally getting it open. "I forgot glasses," Kristy laughed.

Dawn grinned and took the first sip.

"I've never really enjoyed the beach like this," Kristy said after her own drink.

"Maybe because you've never had alcohol here before?"

Their hands touched on the bottle, fingers bumping on the warm glass.

"Maybe. sorry it's warm."

"I've never had it cold," Dawn shrugged. "My dad's more of a wine guy."

"I have. It's better."

"This isn't too terrible. The fact you snuck it here might have contributed to that, though."

Dawn wasn't a drinker, and she'd barely had more than a few swallows. But the way Kristy smiled at that, in a small, satisfied sort of way made her stomach clench in a way that could only be alcohol induced.

The setting sun slanted over the ocean. The waves were calm, almost seeming to caress the shoreline. Claudia and Stacey sat near the water, doing something with wet sand and smiles.

Up the beach, Mallory and Jessie were sprawled on towels, still somehow engrossed in the same catch up session they'd started at noon.

Mary Anne was somewhere in between the two pairs, reading.

Kristy and Dawn were far up the beach, almost out of view from the others. Dawn's original intent had been to take a walk, to soak up the vestiges of one of the last summer evenings. Somehow, she'd ended up here on the sand, watching her friends from afar and strangely content to see them in her world while she herself was set apart from it.

But now, sitting here with Kristy and the occasional brush of her skin, the fizz of lukewarm alcohol on her tongue, she felt even better.

"I think I'm finally understanding why you live out here," Kristy remarked.

Dawn reached to touch the back of Kristy's hand, resting casually on her discarded paper bag. "I get the best of both worlds this week."

"You're just saying that so you get my alcohol."

"Wouldn't you like to know," Dawn laughed.

"Why were you being all antisocial over here, anyway?" Kristy set the bottle down decisively.

Dawn shrugged. "I'm not really sure. You're acting pretty peculiar yourself there, Kristy."

Kristy nodded, eyes strangely distant. "I know."

"I like it," Dawn murmured, looking at the way Kristy's hair hung in damp, limp clumps.

"That makes one of us," Kristy said wryly.

Dawn had a sudden, strong urge to drink more of the cheep Champaign. Kristy hadn't pulled her hand away, and her skin was softer than Dawn would have imagined.

Their heads turned, and gazes met. Dawn felt something was being communicated, but she couldn't quite pinpoint exactly what.

"It might grow on you," she told Kristy.

"It might." Kristy agreed, voice almost a rasp. Something seemed to shift in the brown of her eyes, and for a stretched second Dawn thought Kristy might kiss her. Or she might kiss Kristy.

But then Kristy was rising, grasping her alcohol and keeping her hold on Dawn's hand. "Come on. Let's go tempt Mary Anne away from Jodi Picoult."

She lead the way back down the beach, laughing.

Dawn followed, feeling a sort of tingle spread through her body. Oddly, it had started at her fingertips, intertwined with Kristy's./lj-cut


End file.
